As reported by SCOTUSblog this evening, the Supreme Court has invited counsel for Patrick Kennedy to file a brief addressing the state of Louisiana’s rehearing petition in Kennedy v. Louisiana, 128 S. Ct. 2641 (2008). The Court also invited the Solicitor General to file a brief and invited Louisiana’s counsel to reply. Here’s a link to the Court’s order.

Louisiana’s rehearing petition and a previous brief from the Acting SG supporting it were based in large part on the Kennedy opinion overlooking a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 that authorized the death penalty for the rape of a child. We discussed the Acting SG’s brief here and Louisiana’s rehearing petition here.

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